


The Last Shinigami

by NeatStuff



Category: Bleach
Genre: BAMF Kurosaki Ichigo, Dangai Ichigo, F/M, Powerful Ichigo, Shinigami Captain Ichigo, soul society - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23228878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeatStuff/pseuds/NeatStuff
Summary: AU. Soul society collapsed under Yhwach’s boot with all Shinigami dead at the hands of his Sternritters. For nine years Ichigo fought, struggling to keep the last vestiges of his sanity alive. The last struggle, one last fight where he gave it his all and accepted every facet of himself…and nothing. With Yhwach as soul king, the world burns asunder. And what has Urahara planned? Time-Travel! Dangai Ichigo Power levels! Smart Ichigo!
Relationships: TBD - Relationship
Comments: 8
Kudos: 113





	1. Saigo no Tangan

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Since there are many things in bleach that are a bit confusing/convoluted in their explanations, the size of seireitei, Zanpakuto, its creation and relation to its wielder and many other things, for example, I will be taking some liberties with them in this fanfic. I assure you, the things that make bleach, bleach, will all remain the same and my explanations will flow into the story rather than being dumped all at the same time. 
> 
> 2\. I usually prefer the Japanese names of things and will do my best to write them as the creator intended but, it slows down the writing part quite a lot and if I don’t, for some reason, do this every time, I do apologise for it in advance.
> 
> With that said, enjoy the chapter.

-x-x-x-x-x-

A rift opened in a withering chamber at the lowest levels of the earth, beneath a burning city. Light, red and haunting burst from the opening as it broke through the world, surging with tremendous power.

It was not something that could be hidden from one's senses as it literally tore through reality itself and thus, it _should_ _not_ have been present in the last safe house for the remnants of those who kept the balance.

Even now, their enemy was fast approaching with an end that had been promised to them all those years ago.

“Are you sure about this?”

The hoarse voice of his companion asked worriedly as he saw the three of them struggle to control the Kido in the barrier.

“Its…our…only shot,” he replied, gritting his teeth in pain as the burden of the spell fell on his shoulders a little more.

A glance to his left and he saw both his sisters had blood coming out of their eyes pooling at their legs marring the etched runes on the stone floor that Urahara had painstakingly carved for this endeavour.

“Karin! … Yuzu!” he shouted seeing the pain in their tired but fierce gazes.

“We…can…do this, Ichigo!” Karin grunted as she flared her reiatsu once more, trying her best to hold on for a little while longer. Ichigo had protected them their whole life, she knew she could not leave this task for him to take on his own. He needed her. Looking towards her side where stood her equally suffering twin, she amended her thoughts…he needed them _both_.

“Don’t…don’t stop now, brother!” Yuzu replied echoing her twin.

Ichigo closed his eyes in defeat but before his regrets could take hold of him and his thoughts could remind him of all that he had failed to protect, he wrenched them back to the goal at hand.

It was their only chance. Their last chance to save the world and their loved ones… Even if it cost them everything.

With clenched teeth, Ichigo gave a mighty roar and pulled out all stops that kept his reiryoku in check.

“AAAAAHHHHHHH……”

A silvery glow emanated from his very being, lighting up the dark chamber with its luminescence.

The purple barrier holding all four of them inside wavered for a moment and came back alive with a renewed strength just as the blood-red rift at their front opened its ominous gates with a creek that all of them could feel in their very bones.

“It’s time,” Kisuke said in a weary tone, the effort to keep the barrier taking a dangerous toll on his soul.

Ichigo took a steadying breath and sharing a look with his sisters, nodded. They had prepared for this. They had made their peace with whatever happened, knowing that what they had planned did not guarantee success.

 ** _“My right hand is the stone that bridges worlds. My left hand is the blade that binds reality. The black-haired shepherd is hung from a chair. Stratus clouds come, and I strike down the ibis…Keikaigi Kuro!”_** Ichigo began the incantation even as his legs shook from the effort of keeping the multitudes of spells inside the barrier.

 ** _“Barrier of dust, shield of north, protector of Men! Arise from ashes and reveal our weakness. Dissolve into air and hide our sins! On altars of greed we call you. In graves of virtue we worship you. Bind, scatter, reduce to ash! Cripple, crush, dissolve...Dangai Shiro!”_** Karin echoed her brother, feeling the strain double in an instant.

 ** _“God of Wind, hear my plea. Take from me my stubborn heart, take from me my weakness. Through me form the winds of change and the winds of destruction. From the four corners of the world, come to me the Eastern, the Western, the Northern, and the Southern winds and let loose the might of time…Taimugēto!”_** Yuzu ended with a hitch in her tone that told the others she was standing on her last legs.

The effect was instantaneous.

The purple barrier shimmed and wavered away as the called upon might of time itself tore the spiritual particles into nothingness.

The Kido barrier capable of keeping even the most tenacious of beings who could boast a spiritual power surpassing those of a Shinigami Captain, could not keep the corroding touch to time from fading it away.

Kisuke Urahara, the exiled Shinigami of the Soul Society, looked upon the scene and a tired sigh left his lips even as his feet felt the thundering of the earth beneath in response to the spell the three Kurosaki siblings had awakened.

He looked down in his hand and for a brief moment doubt surged within him as the pitiful being in his hands fought for control.

The anger when he saw it though, eroded his doubts.

Pernida Parnkgjas.

Yhwach’s Schutzstaffel. A Sternritter with the epithet C - The Compulsory.

The left hand of the Soul King and the only _thing_ that had enough power to get his companions to where they wanted to go.

It had been a bitch and a half binding the thing into a barrier much smaller than its own body and he’d had to create a new Kido just to keep it from using his powers on him while the ritual was active.

Now though…now, there wasn’t a need to keep it in check. For what the Sternritter was up against, even it, with all its power wouldn’t be able to do anything.

**“NOW KISUKE!”**

Ichigo’s shout brought him back as he saw the rift beginning to close.

Brining the Quincy near enough to his chest and with a single thrust, he plunged his Zanpakuto, Benihime into his own heart just as it cleaved Pernida Parnsgjas in two, their mixed blood spilling onto the floor.

He and Benihime had made peace with what they both knew, they’d have to do. His Zanpakuto spirit had been more amused by it than anything. She had said to him once, the reason he didn’t harbour romantic feelings for Yoruichi was that he was already in love with her and now that he was dying with her…well, didn’t it just show the depth of his feelings for her?

He hadn’t really been able to deny that.

“UNGHH…” Kisuke gasped as the fatal wound tore through his chest. A small smile came to his lips as he felt the whispering voice of Benihime soothing his pain. It turned into a savage bloodthirsty thing when he saw the Sternritter’s reiatsu was being absorbed by the rift as they had hoped.

 ** _“Disintegrate, you black dog… of Rondanini! Look upon yourself…*cough* with horror and then seize your own throat!”_** Kisuke intoned the final chant of spell coughing blood and threw the flailing limb into the rift which ate at its essence as though it were nothing.

His job done, Kisuke’s legs gave away even as his Zanpakuto held him, keeping him from touching the ground. Smiling slightly at Benihime in their mindscape, he took a last look at the orange-haired man who had become his friend in the time they had struggled together and whispered his last words in this world.

“It's up to you now, Ichigo…”

-x-x-x-x-x-

Ichigo felt more than saw the life of his friend and teacher fade away into the hungry maw of the rift that they had opened as their salvation.

Seeing his body as the blood dripped on the stone floor marring its blackness with Kisuke’s life-brew, a haunted look came to his brown eyes as he added another name in the long list of people who had had to give their lives because of one monster.

A whimper and strained breathing from his side reminded him of what they had to do.

“Karin! Do it!” Throwing Zangetsu from within his sheath to her, he commanded with a tone that broke no argument. Not that Karin argued with him anymore. He was her big brother, her teacher, she knew what weighed on him. She could see the pain in his eyes.

“Hai!” she answered.

And with that, she did something that would have once horrified him but only brought a single tear in his eyes now.

 _‘It’s the only way…’_ he thought to himself, clenching his eyes shut at what was about to come.

Following Kisuke’s example, Karin took Zangetsu and whispered something inaudible. And in a single unwavering thrust, plunged the sword into her chest.

“ANNGGHHHHH…” a cry of pain burst from her lips as she spat blood at her front.

“KARIN!” Yuzu shouted, her eyes brimming with tears.

“STAY THERE, YUZU! You know what will happen if you let go of the Kido!” Ichigo broke through to her, his voice strained as the force of spell tripped on his shoulders without Karin.

It took all her self control to stop herself from kneeling beside her struggling twin as her shallow breaths and pained gasps tittered down to small whimpers.

Gathering her flailing reiatsu, she took hold of the barrier keeping them safe from the rift and glanced at Ichigo. He was looking at Karin with a look she had seen from him once in his life before.

It was the same look he had when he informed her and Karin that their father had died saving them from an ambush by the Soul King’s second in command, Jugram Jaschawalth and thirteen other Sternritters.

Ichigo had been there with him when they both had fought and bled to defend her and Karin from manic Sternritters who were doing anything and everything in their power to hunt them down.

The butchers had

His death…it had **_changed_** him.

It had changed them all.

She saw as finally, right before their very eyes, Karin’s breath ceased and a second later, her body burned into nothingness, her essence travelling through the rift.

A tear rolled from her cheeks at the loss of her twin sister.

“AAAGHHHH…Yuzu! Go! NOW!” Her brother’s frantic shout alerted her that something was wrong.

Then she felt it.

The outer barrier. It had been breached.

“THEY ARE HERE! GO!” Ichigo shouted again.

Praying for all of their souls, Yuzu did as her big brother commanded.

She dropped her hold on the Kido and heard Ichigo grunt from the strain as everything that kept them safe from the red opening fell on his shoulders.

Had she not seen it before, she would have been in awe of what her brother could do. The barrier that held their souls from being devoured by time was immensely powerful, requiring, in her estimate, an especially dense and huge amount of reiryoku to form.

Hastily as she could, she picked Zangetsu from where her sister had once stood and echoed the words Karin had whispered.

Before she could do what she must, her brother’s voice caught her ears.

“Stay safe till I get there,” he said with a strained smile and closed them again as the pressure from holding the spell got too much for him to speak.

Despite herself, that one statement from him made all the difference. With a teary smile of her own, she replied, “Hai, oniichan…”

Ichigo kept his eyes closed firmly, unwilling… _unable_ to see anymore. He knew Yuzu would know the reason. She always did. She was the one who always took care of their family. She knew their needs.

When he heard the now agonisingly familiar pained gasp, he flinched.

Another one…gone.

His blood boiled as he thought of the sacrifices their little sisters had to make.

 _‘They shouldn’t have had to do this… It was not their time!’_ He raged inside his mind.

A pinprick at the back of his mind informed him of the last broken barrier that the Quincies had just broken and he thrusted his anger aside with frightening control.

Kisuke had said it all… It was all up to him now.

**_“Scourage of fire. Devourer of souls. Raging winds of North, hear me. Thirteen black horses in firey pits call upon thee. Free the chains that bind thy servant. Open the gates. Flood the earth. I unleash myself. Hachi-taibo…Tamashī Gisei!”_ **

The final remnants of the barrier shattered as his incantation ended and for a moment, just one, he could breathe as though everything that had weighed on him had faded away.

With a vengeance, the force returned and pushed him down into the cold floor.

He only had time to call Zangetsu back to him before the fire from the bloody rift snatched him in its hungry maw.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHHH……”

His screams echoed in the empty chamber as everything began shaking. A quake of such magnitude hit the hole in the ground as the roof caved at the entrance.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH…….”

A white orb of light came from his chest and disintegrated before his blood dripping eyes, its essence being eaten by the red opening in the air.

Ichigo clawed at his throat as it burned from within filling his being in excruciating pain.

 _‘You’re nearly there Ichigo…’_ A voice whispered in his head.

Even in pain, he recognised that voice.

“Zan…Zangetsu,” he breathed.

 _‘The hollow within you…its purged. I can feel its absence.’_ Zangetsu informed him.

Ichigo held on. The pain was nothing when he reminded himself what he would gain if he endured it as he must.

“ANGGGHHHH….”

A blue orb of liquid-like substance burst from him just as his legs burned to ashes. It held on to him though, doing its very best to get back within his soul.

Finally, with a feeble attempt to return back to its owner who sat on the Soul King’s throne, the soul fragment in his being that made him a Quincy, crumbled into nothingness as the rift devoured it whole.

A bloody smile came to Ichigo’s lips seeing the final remnants of taints leave his being.

It had been a gamble.

Kisuke had told him not to do and to follow the plan, but he knew, as long his soul was tainted, even going where they intended would not help in the slightest.

The sacrifices of these powers only added more stability to the opening as its fuel.

And more importantly…

Zangetsu was finally free. His true Zanpaktou spirit.

He saw, with searing pain behind his open eyes, as his Zanpakuto finally unravelled itself and settled within his chest as a part of him, as it was always meant to be.

He knew he was finally complete.

Ōetsu Nimaiya may have created all Zanpakuto’s in existence, but even he had not understood what Zangetsu craved above all.

To be Ichigo’s true partner.

And Ichigo knew that he could not be an amalgamation of every kind of being there was and become what Zangetsu wished him to be.

He was…what he always had been…

A **true** **Shinigami**.

With only one thing left to do, Ichigo triggered the final spell Kisuke had embedded in the chamber halls as a surprise for their _guests._

**“Saishū Kuyō Shibari…”**

Thirty black holes came into existence at the buried entrance and held there by his will.

The bastards would not be able to run back to their master and tell what they had done. He would make sure of it!

With nothing left to do…he waited.

Burning…It had a distinctly different feel to it than anything he had ever felt before. The way his flesh sizzled and melted right before his eyes. The smell of it…his screams…his very life being lifted out of his body. He could feel every second of it. Could see it as if he was an outsider, watching his body being scorched asunder. It was almost easy at this point, despite the pain involved, to let go. The end would either bring him to the judgement of his cruel existence or would take him towards his only chance at redemption.

A sudden pull came and he gave in.

The last sounds he heard as the red opening engulfed him were the screams of his enemies dying as Kisuke’s final surprise ended their days.

-x-x-x-x-x-

**~ Review please ~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Legend –  
> • Keikaigi – Garganta opening  
> • Dangai – the way to Soul Society  
> • Taimugēto – Timegate
> 
> There will be many things that will be unclear and there is a reason for it. Treat this chapter as a prologue and continue to the next one. I assure you, things will clear up in a while.


	2. Sono Kaeru - (The Return)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – 1. Hey everyone. Hope you’re staying safe and calm. Stay Healthy, folks. 
> 
> 2\. The first chapter may seem like a short one for most of you, I know, I do feel the same. But the purpose of the first chapter was to show that Ichigo did in fact time-travelled. It did not show how exactly but that was by design. The story isn’t about how he did it, it is about what he did once he got where we wanted to be. 
> 
> That is all. Enjoy the chapter.

-x-x-x-x-x-

**_(Fugai - 6th ward of Uncharted Districts, Rukongai, Soul Society)_ **

Silence. Blessed silence graced him after what felt like years. He could still hear the echoes of the wails of trapped souls back in his mind even now, though they subdued. As though waiting for him to lower his guard so they could attack him once more with their persistent pleas for help.

Ichigo gasped as consciousness returned to him at last and he shot up from the ground, his mind a whirlwind of activities.

“Ack…ugh…” he coughed and wheezed as the _air?_ burst into his insides making breathing a _difficult_ process simply because of the _ease_ with which he could do it?

Nonsensical explanations raved his mind and after hacking and spitting from his uncomfortable and somewhat painful awakening, his eyes opened wide, sharp and searching.

Trees. Green mossy grass. Small hills and unoccupied lands surrounded him as he swivelled to look around where he was.

A sharp cry of a raven in the near distance made him turn sharply towards the noise and a dry twig broke under his bare feet as his weight shifted to accommodate his balance.

A moment passed and just as he was about to question the veracity of his state of being, the memories of the past barreled into him like mountainous waves, crushing his perception with their ruthlessness.

“Karin! … Yuzu!” he breathed out as the final moments of their end flashed before his eyes.

With a subconscious effort on his part, he reached out with his senses in all directions, expanding, searching his treasures in a myriad of souls. Suddenly his mind caught the faint wisps of familiar presence.

_‘There!’_ his thoughts screamed at him, finally having found the subjects of his worried state. They shimmered at his periphery like two bright stars in his night sky.

A relieved smile tugged at his lips at his find and his throat closed up with emotion. _‘They made it…'_

With a renewed vigour and a purpose that spoke of some urgency, Ichigo looked around him with a better understanding of where he was.

The strong presence of reishi in the air. The very subtle pressure on his being that spoke of reiatsu in everything that lined within his vicinity, living and unliving both. The ease with which his breaths came to him. There was no doubt…

_‘Soul Society…’_ he recognized with ease. “We did it!” he breathed, his brown eyes showing genuine surprise at the feat.

It was difficult, more than he’d expected it'd be, to see the ruined and destroyed place as it had been before the war… Filled with life and sustenance, housing within its womb, countless souls that lived out their ends.

Now that he was a _soul,_ one among many, it was all too easy to feel its importance and what it meant for the world as a whole. And not just as some cosmic truth, though it was that, but as his own reality as well.

Though he could understand how he could have neglected to breathe in its essence in his past. Back then, he had been alive. Had a home to go back to, a family that waited for him. He could see how that could have stopped him from appreciating the marvellousness of Soul Society.

A brief moment passed in which he allowed himself the euphoria of actually achieving something they all had thought was a long shot at best, and then with ruthless efficiency, he curbed his enthusiasm by dousing it with cold water of reality.

This was _not_ the time to celebrate their momentary victory.

Their work had just begun.

With that thought in mind, Ichigo stilled his movements completely and focused within himself to touch his mindscape after what felt like a lifetime.

It was infinitely easier than he had expected.

And wildly different than what it once had been.

Where the tall skyscrapers had once stood, tall and proud, there was nothing in sight but a plain white expanse of absolutely nothing.

Ichigo blinked. Twice. And then… the truth dawned on him.

There was a time when something like this would have surprised him, made him fear the unknown. But now, when he had done and seen things that he had and when he had gone through what would kill most people and come out of the quagmire with his sanity intact…it was simply another test of his acceptance.

Closing his eyes and with a single soft-spoken whisper, he broke through the barrier that was keeping him from reaching the spirit that lived inside him, “Zangetsu…”

Instantly, the white expanse shattered like a mirror with a tumultuous sounding crack!

A small smile tugged at his lips as he felt the cold wind touch his skin, telling him of another presence that had joined his side.

“Another test, I see,” he remarked, opening his eyes to look at his companion.

There, in front of him, covered in a bluish-grey, bandage-like carapace around his torso and his right arm, neck, and half his face hidden beneath a mask stood a tall, youthful, slender being with wildly flowing waist-length black hair and equally black eyes.

An open Shihakushō and a plain black Hakama fluttered in the gentle wind as the being looked at him with a hidden smile. A smile that he knew was so reminiscent of his own it was as though he was looking in the mirror.

This was the being who had been his truest friend and partner ever since Ichigo had become what he was always meant to be and had freed him from the chains that Yhwach and the hollow within him had bound the spirit in.

His true Zanpakuto Spirit.

Zangetsu.

“And you passed…” Zangetsu replied, his strong, bold, echoing voice differentiating him from the other imposters who had laid claim to his title.

“You taught me well,” Ichigo quipped.

Zangetsu looked at him with a raised brow at that. To his knowledge, in the short few years, they were physically acquainted with each other, Ichigo never truly stated his acknowledgement of him as his teacher, only ever treating him as a treasured friend. Oh, he readily showed his respect and trust he had in him without him ever having to ask for it, but for him to outright admit the fact…it was…different.

“How long?” Ichigo asked in a weary voice bringing Zangetsu’s attention back from his musings.

“Thirteen months…” the spirit answered honestly.

Brown eyes widened slightly at the answer before a tired sigh escaped Ichigo’s lips. “I knew it would take longer than it did before but…” he shook his head, unable to comprehend the time dilation while being stuck in the chaotic currents of Dangai Shiro.

Even though they both knew that it had been a necessity for what was to come, it still had been an arduous affair even though the results were exactly what they both had hoped for.

The power he had felt only once before in his life, thrummed within his being again, simmering just below the surface, ready to be called upon his need.

Looking at his companion Ichigo still asked, “Are we one?”

Black eyes bore into the brown ones as his Zanpakuto spirit deliberated until…until he saw what he had been looking for all along and answered with a proud countenance. “We are…”

The sigh of relief from Ichigo proved his loyalty much more than his words ever could.

Zangetsu had seen him struggle from the start – hidden behind barriers though he might have been – and he had seen how the **_taints_** in his soul had misguided him at every step of his journey.

Had he not been bound by their combined powers and had his powers not been diminished Ichigo’s inability to recognize his hidden presence, he would have torn the beings who had dared to call them Ichigo’s Zanpakuto’s spirts apart limb from limb.

A hand on his shoulder brought his boiling anger back to its cold simmering form and he saw Ichigo standing beside him facing in opposite direction extending his hand on his arm.

“You’re free now, Zangetsu. **We…** are free…” Ichigo whispered with finality.

Zangetsu looked at his partner for some time before he replied with a slow nod. “We are…” he echoed his previous statement.

As though it had never been displaced, Ichigo’s mindscape reverted back to its previous glory as the tall standing skyscrapers once again looked down at him with their protective shadows and the shining sun in the bright blue sky shimmered back into existence.

There were wounds there, they both could feel them, but they were beginning to heal now that they had hope once more.

The two friends continued to look far into the distance enjoying the absence of rain after a long, long time.

“You can sense them?” Zangetsu asked breaking their reverie.

“They’re nearby,” Ichigo replied with a nod.

“They might not be alone,” the spirit warned.

“Yes,” Ichigo agreed, knowing what Zangetsu meant. “Stay close…” he added even as his form began to fade back to the physical world. The whispered words of the Zanpakuto spirit did bring a content smile to his face though.

“Always…Ichigo.”

-x-x-x-x-x-

Control.

It was, debatably, the most important thing Kisuke had ever taught him.

To have complete and utter control of his reiatsu. To understand it and know of its presence and capabilities as he did of his own body. To feel it living within him…churning with a cold fury that matched his own.

It had been a hellish training. Certainly more gruesome than any other he had ever done before. With the amount of reiryoku he had, the task had once seemed an impossibility. But Kisuke being who he was, had devised a way for him to attain it even though it had taken him far longer than they could afford.

Facing Benihime without his own Zanpakuto had been…interesting, to say the least.

But the war hadn’t stopped for him, waiting for him to become stronger. They had continued their fight. Even when town after town had been eradicated by the _holy ones_ , they had continued to save all those they could while fighting their enemies at every step.

Ichigo never lost count how many people he lost in the gruesome attempts of a monster to achieve his perverse perfection of the world.

But he hadn’t let it stop him. He _couldn’t_. And eventually, when only Kisuke, he and his sisters were the only ones left to save the last vestiges of humanity who clung to a hope of their saviours, they protected them with everything they had, fighting the bloodthirsty _holy army_ of Quincies and Hollows alike…all in a fevered state and with a single goal to save as many people they could, which usually involved anyone whom the newly proclaimed Soul king considered _impure_. For those who had died to save the world, their friends and peers, they could do no less.

And despite all his failures, despite all his loses, his efforts to better himself had never ceased.

But no matter how much stronger he got, the murderers had already done more than enough damage for it to matter anymore.

Yhwach. A – The Almighty had been most thorough in the subjugation of his subjects.

Coming back to himself, Ichigo asserted his will on his already restrained reiryoku with little difficulty that spoke of his experience. Suppressing it as much as he could, he reduced his presence to the levels it could be sensed once more.

In an instant, the subtle wafting spiritual pressure that he had gotten accustomed to, ceased abruptly, halting its outward flow from his body.

Surprised, though less so for having already suspected something similar to happen, Ichigo analysed the flow of his reiryoku within him and felt his reiatsu suppressed to the levels that none but only those nearby would even realise he was there.

He knew it would not be enough, though. He was not as _intuned_ with his reiryoku as he had been before _coming_ _here_. The _detour_ – for lack of a better word – in Dangai had screwed up his painstakingly gathered control and no matter how much reiatsu he had receded within his body and no matter the distance from here to the Sereitei, a hint of his presence must have been noticed. 

Especially by those who could **_look_** this far ** _._**

But without the seal that Kisuke had designed for him, it was the best he could do for now.

Hopefully, the fluctuation of reiryoku because of his spiritual pressure would be mistaken for a Hollow. He remembered Kisuske had chosen this location for a reason. Uncharted lands were known for the odd sightings of Adjuchas and even quite a few Vasto Lords who had managed to get past the barriers surrounding the dimension. 

Honing on to the two reiatsu signatures that he knew as well as his own, he vanished with only a flicker to tell of his departure.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Rukongai. The wandering soul city. The largest and the most populated portion of Soul Society where the dead souls came to rest after living their lives, may they had been short or fulfilled.

Divided into three-hundred and twenty charted districts with eighty of them in all four directions, it was a massive expanse that contained billions of souls who lived their after-lives in the city before finally being reintroduced into the cycle of rebirth.

As one descended from the centre and went farther and farther into the massive city, they could easily see the depravity that souls had to live in to survive. It was a harsh life. Separated from the people one loved when they were living, nothing to live in but slums, the lives of the departed souls in these districts were truly hardscrabble, violent and crime-infested.

It was, therefore, a surprise for some residents who lived in one of the outer reaches of these districts when a tall, lean man with a muscular build, wearing scraps for a shirt and half torn pants walked through the narrow roads that separated the Sakahone and Sabitsura districts with silent confidence and without a crease of fear on his face despite being holding nought a single weapon in his hands.

Unusual did not even begin to describe the lithe man though. For one, he was sporting a most peculiar shade of spiky orange hair on his head and for another, and this was where their surprise came from, he did not have a scratch on his body even though the direction of his arrival meant that he would have no doubt had to pass through the dreaded _Yaban'na_ _tochi_.

The savage lands.

Sabitsura district was said to be the last area where Shinigami patrolled, as little as they did anyway. While the whole society was supposed to be protected by the balance keepers, every soul beyond the fiftieth district knew not to expect much from the mystical protectors.

Not many souls from these districts became Shinigami. And those few who did, forgot about the pain of living here almost as soon as they got the taste of what the nearer districts had to offer.

Food. Money. Respect.

Rukongai had given them none of these things. Why would they ever return here just to be reminded of their painful pasts?

But the Sakahone slums…this town…it marked the first line where the real dredges of society started making their presence known.

And beyond even that…were the savage lands.

Where the counts of rape, murder & kill were the real currencies of trade.

No matter how much Central-46 wished to stop these crimes or curb them at the very least, the presence of the souls capable of hurting innocents was nothing they could ever control. Not this far in the wandering soul city. And certainly not with the number of Shinigami they had.

One such presence, Daichi Meishu, the local thug and self-proclaimed leader of the Sakahone Slums who controlled the streets with his fists and his loud-mouthed lackeys was sitting at his usual haunt, watching the oncoming orange-haired man with a disinterested frown.

“Oye! Tsubitsura! Why don’t you take the first crack at the fish, eh? Might impress that little cunt of yours. Hehahhaaaa…” a blonde man with a scraggly beard and filthy clothes jeered at the young addition to their gang.

“I might at that!” Tsubitsura, a young, black-haired, youth hollered back, rubbing his hands on his clean-shaven chin as he leered lewdly at the quivering woman in the open window on the opposite side of the road.

Unsheathing a poorly made Nagamaki that looked a little too big for his size, the boy casually walked towards the approaching traveller.

Tsubitsura timed his speed and stopped right outside the house where he knew his Yuki-chan was even now watching him with her cute face and prettily shivering body. As soon as he looked at her, he knew she would give him what he wanted. He had already taken her beside the barn far too many times, rutting her like his bitch for her to not know his needs anymore. He knew she was afraid of him… and it delighted him to no end. Her scared face reminded him of how her mother had dared to stop him once when he had decided to take what Yuki-chan owed him.

Beheading the bitch in front of his pretty Yuki-chan had made sure that she wouldn’t repeat her mother’s mistakes.

And he wasn’t disappointed when he saw her scared smile as she looked at him through the bars in the broken window.

Turning his attention back to the prey that was walking toward him of his own volition, Tsubitsura smirked. The man was tall, taller than him easily, but without a single weapon on him? his height wouldn’t matter one bit. He knew he had killed many taller preys before. This one would be no different.

Taking one last look at his _boss_ and receiving an uninterested nod from the man, he began the _entertainment_ for the night.

“Oye! Lost are ya, young sir?” he asked the traveller with faux politeness, hiding his Nagamaki poorly behind him as its blade peeked from beneath his filthy loose trousers.

The orange-haired traveller continued on his way without a single glance in his direction.

“Hehaaaahhaha… Is that all you got eh, Tsubitsura? Man! I knew you were a bitch-ass…see boss, didn’t I say he was nothing but a mousey little cunt…” his colleagues jeered as they saw him being completely ignored.

Anger surged within him as he heard the words that chipped away his hard-earned respect. An urge to disprove the lies the fuckers were spouting he turned sharply and with a rage-filled scream, attacked the taller man with all his might.

Blood spattered the walls of his Yuki-chan’s home and a smile bloomed on his face at the picture.

When the lithe traveller turned, Tsubitsura had expected to see his face filled with horror at what he had done to him but all he saw were a pair of bored brown eyes looking at him with an apathetic gaze.

And then he felt it.

Pain.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH…..”

Tsubitsura Yagushi screamed as he had never screamed before as a wide slash opened his chest cavity. Pain like he had never felt before engulfed him and he felt, for the first time, the emptiness of his hands.

His horrified eyes caught sight of his Nagamaki in the traveller’s hands and the last thing he saw before darkness descended on him was the glint of his own weapon as it came to behead him as he had done to countless others.

Ichigo looked down at the bleeding, headless corpse and flicked the poorly balance Nagamaki in his hands to remove the blood from its blade.

A slight glance to his side caught a young woman shivering behind a barred, open window as she looked at the corpse with wide eyes.

Silence reigned in the town as walkers-by stopped and looked the familiar scene that had ended with a distinctly different outcome.

And then Ichigo heard what he had hoped not to. He had thought that taking care of one of their hitters would be enough to deter his companions.

Apparently Not.

“Oye Oye! You killed him?” a moronic voice asked.

Ichigo shook his head. He didn’t have time for this. But a single look around him told him that he would have to indulge himself. All around him, people had stopped doing whatever they were doing before and were looking at him with wide-open eyes in which he could see their hopes for an end of their suffering.

Without them shouting it out, he could hear their pleas to rid them of these parasites who were leeching off of them for so many years.

A sigh escaped his lips and he turned around to face the exploiters. “I will give you one chance to walk away from this town. One chance,” Ichigo spoke in a calm, collected voice. “Whoever among you is calling the shots, take your men from this district and I will leave you be, you have my word.”

For the first time in a long time, Daichi Meishu smiled. It had been many a year since he had gotten a spark of entertainment. He knew this would be worth his time or at least, would break the monotonousness of his days.

“Oh?” Daichi voiced. “And you can back up that claim, traveller? I assume you can count?” he asked humorously, indicating the seven members of his gang surrounding him.

Two seconds.

That was all it took for the colours in Daichi’s vicinity to turn from dusty brown to a bloody-red.

As one, all his lackeys screamed the cacophony of death as Ichigo _moved_ to stand an inch’s breadth away from the gang leader.

“One chance,” Ichigo repeated.

Fear gripped Daichi’s heart as his eyes saw everything surrounding him.

Every single man he had trained to keep the control of Sakahone slums stared at him with wide, horror-filled eyes, _dead_ at his feet.

Daichi did the only thing he could.

He ran.

Slipping on the bloody road, he fell and crashed in the nearby garbage but his legs did not stop moving.

Soon he was but a speck of black in the distance to the villagers who were looking at the scene with much the same fear that had caught hold of Daichi’s heart.

Ichigo flung the blood sword at the opposite wall and it buried itself in the stone with a mighty sound.

“Clean this up when you can,” he gestured towards the bloodied corpses of the thugs that littered the road. “They won’t hurt you anymore,” he breathed and began to walk away towards the ruins of the village that he could see in the distance.

An hour later, he was crossing into the sixty-fourth district, a war-torn, burned village, when his thoughts returned to what he had seen.

Ichigo knew, even before, that the afterlife that many living beings hoped for was nothing as their thoughts. While there was peace in certain districts, there was also suffering.

Shinigami, no matter their might, could not be everywhere at once. They were too few for it to be the case. But there were others who _did_ help. The Noble families for one. But even among them, there were very few who did much for those who were less fortunate than them.

He was not naïve enough to think that Soul Society could become the paradise that many thought the afterlife to be. There were simply so many souls for it to ever be the case, _but,_ things could be improved.

At least he thought as much.

Shaking his head at what was probably wishful thinking on his part, he flared his senses once more.

He was close.

They were here.

Thinking for a moment, he decided to take a chance. Focusing the reiatsu at the souls of his feet, he realised it in a single controlled burst.

Everything blurred in his surroundings as he used his mastery over Shunpo to traverse the distance to the reiatsu signatures he could clearly sense now that was closer than before.

With a flicker, he arrived at the front gates of a dishevelled house that looked half-burned and dilapidated enough that no one in their right mind would ever think to call it their home.

Ichigo stepped inside the outer boundary of the house and moved hastily towards the front door. Dust, broken glass and soiled furniture welcomed him as soon as he pushed aside the broken door.

Ichigo smirked at the emptiness. His treasures had done well. There really wasn’t a single thing that spoke of any company the house might have had ever since its destruction. And the spell that hid them…it was a masterfully cast Kido. He’d expect nothing less from his treasures.

A single tendril of his reiryoku jumped between his fingers as he addressed the open air. As though sliding open a curtain, Ichigo gripped the open air beside him with his hands and whispered a soft, **“Noren Mekuri…”**

The world _bent_ and shivered instantly, as the light scattered from beneath his hand and the _illusion_ that had been placed upon the side of the wall shimmered away releasing a miasma of colours of brilliant shades that escaped with the bent light.

A relieved sight met his eyes as he saw the last vestiges of his humanity looking at him with their surprised and happy faces.

“Oniichan…” Yuzu Kurosaki jumped from the floor and flung herself onto her brother, her eyes dripping relieved tears as she squeezed him tightly.

Ichigo gathered his little sister and whispered sweet nothings in her ears as he consoled her with his presence.

Another missile hit his side and expanded the hug to look into the scared and familiar eyes of his other strong little sister, “Karin…” he breathed.

“We thought…we thought you…”Yuzu hiccuped, unable to complete her thoughts as she clung to his shoulders as her life depended on it.

Ichigo’s eyes welled up and he looked at both of his treasures with a sad smile. “I will **never** leave you…either of you…”

Karin hugged him and the tears she had been holding within for so long to keep Yuzu from falling apart, dripped from her eyes freely. Now, when she saw her big brother alive and well, just when she was beginning to think that something had gone horribly wrong…the dam that held back her emotions broke with a snap.

The three siblings spent the longest of time assuring each other of their presence and erasing the doubts that had begun creeping in.

Ichigo gathered himself and rubbed Yuzu’s and then Karin’s face with the torn sleeves of his stolen shirt. “How long?” he asked cupping Karin’s face gently.

Karin kept hold of his hand and looked in his worried brown eyes as she answered. “We…we arrived seven weeks ago. We waited nearby as we planned. We thought…We thought you’d be just behind us. But then a day went by and then two and Yuzu was getting weaker somehow I just…” she choked and Ichigo brought her into his arms to soothe her. “It…it was horrible Ichigo…” she mumbled against his chest looking at the sleeping form of Yuzu who had cried herself to sleep.

All three stayed that way long into the night with Karin recounting how they had stolen some food and when Yuzu had recovered her strength and travelled here using as little reiatsu they could.

Ichigo listened patiently, praised her for her actions and told her how proud he was of both her and Yuzu for taking care of each other when he wasn’t able to. And when he attempted to apologize for failing to protect them as he should have, Karin stopped him with a hardened gaze that he remembered all too well.

“You did protect us, Ichigo,” Karin hissed angrily, offended that he would consider himself a failure. “You taught us how to survive. Without your teachings…” she shook her head, unwilling to think about the horrors all of them had witnessed in the future.

Ichigo stopped her after that, knowing that the past few weeks had been difficult for his little sisters and asked Karin to rest. “I will watch over you. I am here, Karin. Rest…”

It took a while, and during that time all Karin did was look at him to make sure he wouldn’t vanish as though he were a figment of her stress addled mind, but when sleep took hold of her, she gave herself into to its restful arms because she knew now that Ichigo was back, she could let herself go.

He would protect her and Yuzu. Like he always had before.

And tomorrow…

Tomorrow would bring a new beginning. For all of them.

-x-x-x-x-x-

**~ Review please ~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – 1. Legend –  
> • Appearance of Zangetsu – Imagine Final Getsuga Ichigo with no black reishi surrounding him.  
> • Noren Mekuri – Nullifies types of illusory effects which may be used to conceal something from view. Extending their hand, the practitioner appears to be gripping thin air before stripping away the technique which is currently in effect. Doing so creates a light blue-violet aura around the object which is being revealed as it gradually comes into view.
> 
> 2\. The search for a cheap-ass domain is now over. I was finally able to get my hands on one. What does this mean for us, you ask?  
> Well... The website for all my stories and other writing pieces is now up and running.  
> Please visit “www (dot) neatStuff (dot) in” for all the latest chapters that are posted there a day before. I have put a lot of effort into it. Hope you like it.   
> And a reminder, the twitter feed is now Live, again. Follow the news at neatstuff5 on twitter. Read the latest updates on the edits, excerpts from the released and unreleased chapters and other tidbits that I will be posting.


	3. Ukeire – (Acceptance)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – 1. As mentioned in my previous author's note, most of you will start to notice the things that I have slightly changed in Bleachverse. I started this fic by stating that it will be somewhat of an AU and it will be so for the things that I feel need to change from canon.
> 
> 2\. After reading this chapter quite a lot of you will understand, even if vaguely, exactly when I have landed Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu. So if certain things do not match what you know from manga or anime, for example – the rank of a particular character, please do not think that I have made a mistake. It could just be that the particular character you are stressing about hasn't reached the manga rank or I might have even chosen a different path for him/her.
> 
> 3\. To all those who think that as Ichigo has denounced his Quincy and Hollow powers he will be less powerful and/or susceptible to have his Bankai stolen by Yhwach, I have just one thing to remind you all.
> 
> Dangai/Mugetsu Ichigo.
> 
> That is all. Enjoy the chapter.

-x-x-x-x-x-

**_(Shinōreijutsuin, Seretei, Soul Society - One year later)_ **

Shinōreijutsuin. The Shin’ō academy. An institution with a long-standing tradition of creating future soldiers that proudly served the Soul Society in the thirteen court-guard squads or Gotei-13 as they were popularly known among the populace of Soul Society.

“…juu ichi…juu ni…juu san…”

“…move your feet!”

“Hai, sensei!”

“…juu yon…juu go………juu roku………juu nana…”

“Don’t slack off, you maggots!”

“HAI SENSEI!!!”

“…juu hachi…juu kyuu…ni juu…”

Gengorō Ōnabara, the Head Instructor of Classes 1, 3 and 5 of the first, fourth and sixth-year students, observed the strenuously practising class, looking for and correcting the error in their forms.

His sharp eyes took in everything from the stretching and bulging veins on his pupil's tired hands and temples to their quivering knees as they struggled to hold their positions in the advanced forms that their instruction in Hakuda required.

Of all forty-nine aspiring Shinigami present in this class, there were only _three_ , whom he could tell were worth every effort that he put in their teachings.

Perhaps it was too harsh of an observation on his part, nonetheless, he knew, with a quiet certainty that came with his experience that more than half of this class would not succeed further than this year of their instruction.

At least not without a _leg_ - _up_ from their besotted sponsors that lived in their glasshouses in a perch high above the rest of the commoners.

But the _three_ at the back…the ones he could see even now as the stuck to their forms with a calm demeanour and a fluid posture that made him watch every twitch of their muscles, they…were the cream of this crop.

And therefore the reason, that he had invited them here, amid the fifth-year students who were four years their senior.

For forty-three years he had done this. With his very hands, sweat and dedication, he had built upon the foundation of this institution ever since Yamamoto Senchō had chosen him as the next Head Instructor to cultivate the talent of the aspiring Shinigami.

During these long years, he had trained, cajoled, coaxed and thrashed countless souls into submission during and outside his lessons.

Discipline.

It was his only decree.

Every single student from year one to the sixth knew him to be the most strict instructor in the prestigious Shinigami academy. And he held their respect, be it for his dedication towards them or towards the rules that they all had to follow.

Loyalty. Duty. Respect. Selfless sacrifice. Honour. Integrity. Courage.

He had ingrained these very qualities into every student he had ever taught. And he’d never met a single student in his long career who had all these makings without him having to pummel them into the ground with his fist to break their erroneous mould beforehand.

Until the _three_ at the very front of his eyes who had come into his hands a little over eleven months ago.

Prodigies.

Oh, how he _hated_ that term.

There was not a single soul, not a one, whom he could consider giving this…this farcical title who had come through the gates of Shin’ō academy.

Even those of noble blood, the ones who’d had extensive instructions in the ways of Shinigami before coming into his hands, had never been able to gain his praise, at least, not enough for him to ever consider them _prodigies._

Some lacked patience, respect, honour, some had most everything required for them to proceed, but lacked the will to do what was necessary, and most all of them did not know the very thing for which they fought and lived.

Purpose.

It was for this very reason he would never call them Shinigami even in the vaguest sense of the word.

They were… _incomplete_ , oh, so very dull and empty, at least they were until he _fixed_ them.

But whenever he looked at those _three,_ the strength of their bones, their hard-earned skills, the potential that lingered just below their skin and the will to never give up that lived in their very eyes… Ōnabara could never stop his chest from swelling with pride.

The Kurosaki siblings.

Yuzu and Karin Kurosaki, the twins; Extremely proficient with reiatsu manipulation and suppression, the twin sisters were a delight to teach. Always filled with curious questions and innovative in their use of the limited _Kidō_ that had been taught to them, Ōnabara had rarely seen the amount of dedication from any of his students, past or present.

Karin, black-haired, angled face with an athletic build that spoke aplenty of her harsh training, she was a bit more _active_ of the two, even if by slightest of margins.

Having displayed a terrific control of her reiatsu, she was capable enough that she tended to use it to bolster her Hakuda techniques, more often than not using it as a decisive finisher after dismantling her opponents' attacks. Proficient in most of the disciplines of _Hohō_ – a defensive style of fighting relating to footwork which incorporated speed and agility – he knew she had been spending the last few weeks trying to learn the infamous, _Shunpo_.

He still remembered being utterly surprised having seen the lithe girl flickering away from one edge of the roof to another in just a blink of an eye. Especially, when the _Flash-Step_ was yet to be taught to her year mates.

Ōnabara shook his head in mild amusement at the memory even as his eyes caught a pair of whispering students in the middle.

“Shiratori Ujima, Miyuki Yabana, thirty laps of the hall,” he roared, glaring at the two cowering students.

“NOW!”

The two troublemakers squeaked and legged it as fast as they could, scared of drawing more of his ire.

The Head instructor scowled at their retreating forms and began his rounds anew.

There were always a few bad eggs. Especially the ones who had joined Shin’ō for all the wrong reasons. Though he supposed, it was kids like these who made him appreciate the others all the more.

Others like _other_ female Kurosaki twin. With her soft blonde hair that came up to her shoulders and a face somewhat similar to her twin, Yuzu was the soft-spoken one. She had a generally happy countenance that always stood in contrast with her quiet confidence that easily showed every single time Ōnabara put a challenge in front of her.

Much like her twin, Yuzu too was highly attuned with her reiatsu. Capable enough that she could even perform _Eishōhaki_ – _(The Destruction Chant)_ a class of Kidō where the practitioner forwent using a spoken incantation and performed the spells that, though less powerful, still packed a punch.

The memory of the blonde first-year initiate using a mid-ranking Bakudō without any incantation to hold a group of bullying students still made him shake his head in amused wonder.

Was there even a limit to the kind of potential that the sisters had shown until now?

As he thought about the twins though, a distinction crawled to the forefront of his mind. Despite the two being quite similar, they were nonetheless, distinctly different.

While Karin used her reiatsu manipulation to increase the effectiveness of her already impressive Hakuda, Yuzu, on the other hand, used her impressive control over her reiryoku for something that was massively underestimated by an average Shinigami.

_Kaidō_ spells.

The art of healing Kidō.

Ōnabara would never understand how, much less why, Kaidō techniques could ever be regarded as second-class when they were capable of _so much._

Hell, there was a whole division in Gotei-13 whose primary duties – when not in a state of war or emergencies – included taking care of the sick and injured souls as Advanced Relief Teams.

Led by the extremely capable Captain, Retsu Unohana, the Fourth division cared for not only just the injured or ill Shinigami but every soul inside and near Seireitei which amounted to more than five hundred on an average day.

And even then, when the truth was quite literally in front of their eyes, many scoffed at those whose primary affinities aligned towards Kaidō techniques.

The head instructor grumbled inwardly at the foolishness of his students.

While Yuzu Kurosaki was nowhere near good enough to compete with the venerated Captain of the fourth division, or even her third seat, Isane Kotetsu, she was well on her way to becoming one of the most prized healers in Sereitei.

The timidly ticking clock hung at the back of the hall signalled him to change the practising forms of the students and his bold voice rang out, “Stop!”

Watching like a hawk, his sharp eyes saw the tired forms of every student from the first to the very last lines where they stood, heaving and perspiring as they huffed and puffed their displeasure.

“Reverse count!” he bellowed. “Start with the twenty-first forms of Hakuda…Ima!”

The affirmations of “Hai Sensei!” echoed in the hall and his ears twitched as he heard some profanities aimed at him from somewhere in the middle of the group.

Ōnabara shook his head at the disrespect knowing exactly whom he would be entertaining in his office at the end of the day.

There was one student in every class he taught who tested his patience, more so than the others, and learned the hard way, to never do so ever again.

A fluid movement at the back of the hall told him that the leading group had heeded his call and was changing the forms from Juu-san Hakuda, which focussed on upper body strength to the ni-juu-ichi Hakuda forms which, of course, concentrated on the advanced hand to hand combat techniques. 

A mop of orange hair amid the black myriad of struggling students reminded him of the last Kurosaki, or rather the first one, seeing as he was the elder brother to both, Yuzu and Karin.

Ichigo Kurosaki.

Easily passing four or five inches than his own modest six feet, with a moderately slim and perfectly toned build that contained his well-defined and rippling muscles, the slightly bearded man was something of an enigma to him.

As was all too common among the initiates from farther districts of Rukongai, Ichigo was an orphan. Having grown up in one of the most cut-throat districts of the wandering soul city, the orange-haired aspiring Shinigami had raised both of his little sisters on his own.

Ōnabara remembered, with clear memory, the day the male Kurosaki had arrived at the gates of Shin’ō Academy with his younger sisters in tow, hoping to gain admission in his prestigious institution.

Wearing scraps for clothes, all three of them had stared at Mutsuko Sensei – the one in charge of the new admissions – with a conviction that even she had rarely seen among souls of their apparent ages. Reading a report from her, that specifically detailed their _rude_ behaviour and anything and everything that could put them in a bad light had made it clear for him that the circumstances that the siblings had to live all through their life, hadn’t been the most fortunate.

That, and his understanding that Mutsuko was always horrid towards those whom she felt would be a _disgrace_ to their institution. And, as was the case with many such things, that _disgrace_ had a definition of its own as far as Mutsuko was concerned.

But Ōnabara had trained himself to not ever be caught in emotions that the states of a Rukongai initiate brought within him. It was not only a necessity when most every hopeful student from the wandering soul city lived with nothing substantial for a content life but also his adherence to the one simple truth that demanded his pragmatism in these cases.

Gotei-13 was the first and last defence of Soul Society.

It deserved nothing but the very best of what Shin’ō had to offer.

So, as per protocol for Rukongai aspirants, the instructors had given the trio the standard tests created for such admissions. In their most basic sense, the tests evaluated an applicant’s reiatsu, the estimation of the potency of their reiryoku, the conscious control they had over it – If that were to be the case – and some simple questions that dealt with the life, laws and orders one had to adhere as a citizen of Soul Society.

The siblings had barely managed a passing grade with the elder brother acquiring even lower marks than both of his sisters.

Though, if he was being honest, before he knew the trio, the result _was_ somewhat expected.

Souls who lived most of their lives without consciously touching their reiryoku much less doing anything that could boost their reiatsu, often scored lower than those who lived nearer to the Seireitei. It was this very reason why there was a calculated parameter that enabled the students to get admitted in the first place.

But as they _had_ passed the test, if only by the slimmest of margins, they _were_ granted admittance with a grudgingly accepting Mutsuko Sensei, who prided herself on the standards with which Shin’ō Academy tested aspiring students.

His ears still remembered her sharp screeches when the woman had raged on and on about how the strictures for admitting new students should be raised to a higher degree after similar results had been found from many other initiates at the end of the month.

Ōnabara was not the one to _ever_ speak ill of his fellow instructors, but the _harridan_ grated on his nerves. Prejudiced and jaundiced against any and all who couldn’t trace their lineage to either the noble families or those who lived within the Seireitei, Mutsuko was a foul woman, only being retained where she was simply because of the connections she’d made with the sons and daughters of the nobles who had attended Shin’ō over the years.

It was, thus, a fortunate development that the care for the initiates like the Kurusaki trio had fallen upon the shoulders of others, who, unlike her, were exemplary in their duties as teachers.

And then, after merely a couple of months when their instructions had begun, and he had formerly taken up the initiates classes, Ōnabara saw the difference with his very eyes.

While Karin And Yuzu were remarkable students in their own right, their elder brother, Ichigo Kurosaki was unlike any student he had ever seen or taught before.

Zankensoki.

Cut. Fist. Run. Spirit.

The four basic Shinigami combat techniques where _Zan ,_ referred to sword fighting techniques – **_Zanjutsu_** , _Ken ,_ referred to unarmed fighting techniques – **_Hakuda_** , _So ,_ referred to movement techniques – **_Hohō_** and _Ki ,_ referred to **_Kidō_** – **_Hadō_** and **_Bakudō_** , the male Kurosaki was hands and feet above every single student from first to the sixth year in each of these disciplines.

In a mere nine months, the orange-haired man had proven his mettle against even the most senior of his students.

While none from his year including Ichigo himself had been given leave to acquire an _Asauchi_ – the nameless Zanpakutō that was loaned to the initiates after the completion of their first year – Ōnabara and the other instructors _had_ made them practice with a wooden _and_ metal bokken along with many scheduled sparring sessions.

As the Zanjutsu spars were conducted in one massive hall for students of all years except those in the final years of their graduation, the Kurosaki male had defeated every single student in his year with speed and form that had impressed even him.

Just to keep the new talent grounded and to not let him get a big head, Ōnabara had casually thrown him a challenge to compete with his seniors.

He remembered being a bit disappointed when like any other exuberant youth, Ichigo had accepted the challenge rather than declining it as should have been the case no matter his mastery in Zanjutsu over his peers.

And then Ōnabara felt his disappointment vanishing into thin air and feeling astounded for what would be first of many times by a Kurosaki sibling.

He had beaten them all.

From the second-year students to the fifth, every single senior Ōnabara had put in front of him, Kurosaki Ichigo had taken them head-on. And within moments, with humble confidence and a calm disposition, had made a quick work of all his challengers.

Having observed the fights, he had seen the ease with which the young first-year had slashed, parried, countered, feigned, remised and, when the occasion had called for it, even _riposted_ attacks from his opponents and all that… without even breaking a sweat.

_Nukitsuke_ – the threatening starter technique.

_Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu_ – the straight katana fighting technique, the trademark concurrent draw and cut method.

_Yoko Giri _– the technique of the sidecut.

_Kesi Giri_ – the heavy sword uppercut.

The orange-haired youth had shown exceptional skill in even the most difficult of Zanjutsu techniques and that too, without gaining a single mark or a bruise on his own skin.

Something that should _not_ have been possible, no matter his strength or _natural_ talent.

So…Ōnabara had decided to cheat.

Pitting his own sisters against him, he had begun the session anew.

And without a pause or even a blink of an eye, the magnificent bastard had dared to smile. _Smile!_ … At _him._

That spar had cleared many things for him.

First. The male Kurosaki had taught his sisters most everything that the twins knew.

The forms with which the triplet fought, their poised attacks against one another, the absolute defence that all three showed during the fight, it all seemed like a gods-be-damned choreographed session rather than an impromptu spar.

The twins were like two hurricanes that came from either end of their brother’s sides as they slashed and jabbed with tactical ease that his students didn’t develop years later in their studies.

And Ichigo? He was merciless.

Whenever he could, the elder brother had taken advantage of every mistimed attack, every error in form and sometimes even that one tiny chink in his sisters’ considerably good defence that only he could see, to beat them back every time they had come at him with their wooden swords drawn over their heads.

Second. Ichigo Kurosaki loved his sisters with everything he was and they, him.

Every time his sisters had gone down, he had given them time to recuperate rather than take advantage of their broken defence.

Because for him, it had been a teaching moment.

A lesson.

The fact that there was a slight grin at the lips of both female Kurosaki’s told him much of how they both enjoyed and valued his teachings. No matter if the cost of knowledge was to be a few bruises on their pert bodies.

And third. Together, the Kurosaki siblings could be _demons_ with their strength.

The utter spontaneity of their attacks, their matching speed and agility, watching them move and perform the high yield attacks like it was nothing…it was absolute madness. Ōnabara had never seen a team this fluid and this sharp in this academy during all his years as an instructor. There was not a single shred of doubt in his mind that if needed, the trio could very well take on every single student in the academy _and_ win.

And as a teacher, Ōnabara could never stop at just that. Not when he knew the potential of the gems that he had in his hands.

It was true that it had been an incredible show of technique and skill, especially when it came from three _first_ - _year_ initiates. 

But it had also been a challenge.

A challenge to him, that the three Kurosaki would trounce every hurdle, every test that Ōnabara put in front of them.

A challenge Ōnabara had accepted with a savage smile that had made the rest of his students shiver from head to toe.

So week after week he had decided to increase the stakes. Pitting the elder Kurosaki against the very best of what Shin’ō had to offer. More often than not, allowing two or even three against him in a spar that was more of an honour duel for those who had lost to him in the past.

None had been able to land a single successful blow on him.

And what was even more astounding was that Ōnabara hadn’t felt a single spike in Ichigo’s reiatsu during every single one of these spars. Not one damn time.

It was as though he was in control, every moment of every day and more so when he’d had to fight.

It was this very reason that had made him give in to his temptations of going much, much further ahead in his testing than he would have in usual cases. Further than even what had been allowed or could be asked of him as their Sensei.

And when he had…Ōnabara had seen something that had strongly reminded him of some of his past students who had come to be hailed as one of the strongest Shinigami in the Soul Society.

Allowing two particularly peeved fifth years – whom he had heard grumbling in the corridors about how a _low-life thug_ had had the audacity to cheat his way to the top – to use a metal bokken instead of a wooden one as Ichigo had been using, he had lifted the limitations of the spar to add the use of anything and everything his students knew.

The results had been a revelation.

In three moves, just three, the elder Kurosaki had decimated the first one's defence and had _ripped_ the metal bokken right out of his hands by precisely striking between the tsuba and the narrow space where the guard met his opponent’s wrapped fingers. And that too, while dodging the oncoming _Hadō_ spells from one of the most proficient Kidō practitioners in the academy.

With one threat gone and having acquired his focus towards the other who had been hurling offensive spell upon offensive spell at him, Ichigo had proven, quite clearly, that he was _leagues_ ahead of any of his challengers in just one move.

He had performed something that none, not even the Shinigami already enrolled within various divisions could use it without practising the skill extensively for many, many years. And even then, the requirement for a successful cast was directly proportional to the control one had of their reiatsu.

_Nijū_ _Eishō_ – _(The Double-Destruction Chant)_ a class of Kidō where the practitioner mixed the incantations of two entirely separate Kidō spells together to simultaneously save time and confuse their opponent.

Mixing two low-level Bakudō, #4. _Hainawa_ and #9. _Geki_ _,_ Ichigo had bound and then paralyzed the aggressive fifth year with relative ease as the class surrounding him had looked at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

It was extraordinarily remarkable and for someone like Ōnabara… a thing he had waited for a long, long time.

In his long tenure of forty-three years, thousands of students had passed through the academy halls who had called him their sensei. He had taught them every single thing that he knew about being a Shinigami and the duties that went along with such a noble calling.

He knew it was not a mere boast or an idle comment when he said that many Shinigami who were, even now, serving the thirteen court guard squads as Third-Seats, Lieutenants and yes, even Captains, who had learnt the meaning of their station from his words and lessons.

So when he saw Ichigo Kurosaki, who gave his everything and perhaps even more, into gaining extreme proficiency in every single facet of what made a soul a Shinigami, Ōnabara could never stop himself from comparing the man to his previous students.

Aloof, silent, introspective, intelligent, extremely hard-working and more often than not, engaged in helping his sisters. The eldest Kurosaki was every single one of these things.

Having learnt of the truth by casual askance, he had come to know that the trio had learnt _some_ disciplines of being a Shinigami from a retired member of Gotei-13 who had returned to his roots in Rukongai after serving his squad for thirty years.

The story was given credence by the fact that while the trio was exemplary in understanding the concepts of the even the most challenging techniques, at the beginning they had known little to nothing about the inner workings of the Seireitei and the laws and orders that bound every citizen of Soul Society.

And even Ōnabara knew that over the years, there had been a few retired Shinigami who had used their learned skills to _rule_ over the less fortunate souls in Rukongai. So the possibility of someone like that having taught the three before they arrived here was most likely the reason behind their early success.

“I can see your arms dipping, Haibara! Straight-up!” he cried, having seen the limp posture of Kudo Haibara.

“H…Hai sensei!” Haibara acknowledged tiredly and groaned in pain as his sore muscles cramped as he straightened his arm. Every single student present in the hall knew full well that the second warning would get them a bamboo stick right below their knees.

Ōnabara took his eyes off from the tired buffoon and focussed once more on the three that were leading the group from the very back, deliberately diminishing their presence.

As was usual when he saw this particular facet of their personality, a frown marred Ōnabara’s spectacled face.

It was something that he had observed for a while now. The three siblings tended to show as little of their strength as they could when they knew they could get away with it.

It was startling and deceptive, but a personality flaw that Ōnabara had been unable to remove.

Shaking his head and acknowledging, albeit hesitantly, that yes, even soldiers were allowed _some_ personality flaws, his mind caught up to the one thing he had been struggling with something for a while now.

**Shōwoataeru**.

The time of the ceremony had come.

This very evening, some selective few first-year students would be given their Asauchi so that they could forge a bond with the very thing that would later become their Zanpakutō.

To him, it was a forgone conclusion that the three Kurosaki would be awarded this honour – their performance being what it was, had left nothing for it to ever be a matter of discussion.

But there was one more thing that he was considering as well.

It had been three long years since he had last seen a talent like these three – Kaien Shiba was the last one whom he could even begin to compare the three with.

With that thought in mind, there really was no reason to keep them grounded anymore. What with how the three Kurosaki had been _thrashing_ their peers and every other student till the fifth year, the trio needed the experience that only the sixth years could provide them.

And though it was not commonly done for the students who hailed from Rukongai districts, he was of the mind that as the trio had proven their mettle and knowledge by overcoming everything that he had put them through. In fact, if he didn’t think that the request would be denied – on account of them not having a sponsor or a promised spot in any of the divisions – he would have pushed for an earlier graduation for all three of them.

But as was the case, an early _promotion_ would just have to suffice.

Having made up his mind, he saw the clock once more and jolted the students to break their rhythm.

“Reverse again! … Ima!”

x-x-x-x-x-

A year.

All too soon a whole year had gone by.

Ichigo sighed as he thought about everything that had happened and everything they had achieved since getting inside the walls of the Seireitei.

It had taken a while for the three of them to get used to being a soul rather than a breathing and living human they had been before. While they all had intellectually known that Shinigami and other souls that lived in Soul Society lived on reishi that built up every single thing in the place, it had still required them a couple of months before the thing was digested properly in their psyche.

Kisuke had warned them that it might happen. That it would take their minds sometime before they started thinking of themselves as anything other than a _living_ _being_ , as it were.

Ichigo smiled fondly as he attempted to search the familiar reiatsu of his friend among the others. Kisuke had been more right about things than almost every other person he had met in his short life.

It was as though he had some means, a way with which he could tell how the world would turn in the time that would follow.

It made him seem somewhat of a seer.

A fact that Ichigo knew, was completely false.

Kisuke Urahara had said many things during their time together that he had never and _would_ never agree with.

Just before they had attempted to open the right, Kisuke had said that there would come a time when it would be imperative that they forget the memories of their pasts to focus on what was at their front.

Ichigo shook his head at the words his friend had casually thrown in their conversation as though it was an easy thing to do.

The past was what defined all three of them. The past was what made them who they were. The past was what led them to sacrifice their lives to get back here to save everyone else.

No…no, they would never forget their past.

Never.

But there _were_ somethings that _had_ changed for them.

Ever since arriving here in the Seireitei – and hadn’t that been an ordeal by fire – Ichigo could sense the reiatsu of every single person he had known back in his life. Every single one ‘em. The slight spikes in their reiryoku that spoke of their still-living state never failed to bring an unseen smile on his face.

It had taken him weeks, but the knowledge of their presence had brought him the peace that had alluded him for the longest of time.

So, instead of getting caught up in his emotions, he had buckled up and started training his sisters to make them the best that they could be.

He had even talked with Karin and Yuzu about how they would be approaching the academy and its curriculum.

With what all three of them knew and were capable of, it was almost an impossibility that they’d be able to hide their strengths from the students much less the instructors that trained them.

And so they had built up their reputations among some of the most talented students that had ever come through the gates of the academy while showing little things here and there that could justify their presence as _students._

Ichigo snorted as he remembered that Karin and Yuzu had even gone out of their ways to show their ever-increasing competence to Ōnabara Sensei when they knew he was watching, to _maintain their covers_ , as they put it.

And he had never stopped them.

Every single moment that he and his sisters weren’t doing the assigned work that was important enough for their _covers_ , they were grinding themselves into the ground with training that they would be needing all too soon in the future. And with their efforts never hidden from anyone, students or teachers alike, they held the positions of most hard-working students in possibly the whole academy.

They had very specific goals in mind to integrate themselves as Shinigami of Soul Society if they ever wished to be heard about their concerns. And for those plans to ever come to fruition, all three of them needed to establish themselves within the ranks of those who were good enough to stand against the staggering force that they were going to be up against.

And that meant, rigorous, mind-jarring, soul drenching, training.

Even now, as his eyes turned towards the empty classroom, he could see Karin and Yuzu still engaged in their meditation.

They had just finished a Zanjutsu spar with both of them holding their own against him quite well. His precious treasures had finally succeeded in landing a blow on him with their synchronized attack that had _forced_ him to pull out some of the stops that had kept on himself to give them some room to grow.

And he could not be any prouder of them than he was at this very moment.

Having been taught by Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi, two of the most skilful and capable Shinigami that he had ever had the privilege of calling his friends, the results could not have been any different.

While not as good as a lieutenant in their skills in Zanjutsu, yet, Karin and Yuzu were both proficient enough in most of the disciplines of Hohō, Hakuda and Kidō, only ever having lost to him during their time in the academy.

With their _Flash-Step_ a sight to see, both with the amount of distance they traversed in one leap and the control of their reiatsu while using it, Karin and Yuzu had become proficient enough to even attempt _Utsusemi_ – an advanced Shunpo technique in which the practitioner moved at great speed to avoid an attack, leaving an afterimage which can appear to have taken damage.

He could never stop the grin that stretched his face whenever he saw them trying to use it in their spars and _failing_ to get it just right.

He wasn’t surprised.

Utsusemi was a technique that was only partial to the capabilities of a Captain.

While they _were_ good and were well on their way to becoming better every day, but a match for a Captain? … they were not.

At least, not _yet_.

But right now, the only thing that was missing from their training was a Zanpakutō.

After Kisuke had shared with him his fears of how the process of activating their Shinigami powers could very well awaken their latent Quincy or even Hollow reiatsu that they _might_ have inherited from their mother Masaki, Ichigo had sworn to never let his sisters go through everything that had and was happening to him.

In the later years of the war, when all had been lost and the only thing left to do was survive and protect those few who were left standing, Karin and Yuzu had somehow succeeded in tapping into their reiryoku on their own. An astonishing feat, if the look on the former captain of the twelfth division was anything to go by.

Ichigo hadn’t been surprised though. All three of them had the blood of a Powerful Shinigami running through their veins, after all.

He had no doubt in his mind that his little sisters had the same potential as he had and that _this_ was most likely the reason why Kisuke and Tessai had agreed to train them.

And since that day, the twins had never stopped _surprising_ all three of them. While he had just been glad that his treasures now had a way to protect themselves if need be, Karin and Yuzu had taken their talent to a degree that neither of them could have ever predicted.

To be capable of discharging enough reiatsu to keep a level 90 Kidō balanced?

Yeah, his sisters had always been exceedingly remarkable even when they hadn’t been a Shinigami.

But now, when they were purified souls having left their shackles and connections behind that their living bodies and blood bound them with, he knew, they were as ready as they’d ever be.

And it seemed as though Ōnabara sensei had the same idea.

To think that they’d have their **_partners_** in their hands when they joined their peers in **_Shōwoataeru_** being held this very evening… Ichigo couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this hopeful for the future.

“Karin. Yuzu,” he called out softly into the open room.

Two pairs of dark brown eyes opened as the sisters slowly came out of their meditative trance.

Turning, their eyes looked at him in askance and he gestured towards the open door that led them to the corridor for the main chamber hall.

“It’s time…”

-x-x-x-x-x-

**_(Shinōreijutsuin, Seretei, Soul Society)  
(Graduation Trials - One year later)_ **

“…Hadō #31. _Shakkahō!_ _”_

Red, molten flames shot out of his hands towards one of his attackers as Ichigo leapt forward to avoid the oncoming strikes from the others who had circled around his back.

“Karin!” he hollered to his sister who was dealing with a group of dozen rather brazen attackers and beating them back soundly with her concussive Kidō blasts. “Hi fūjin!” he commanded with a secret hand sign, subtly telling her to use lesser reiatsu than her usual approach.

The black-haired twin nodded imperceptibly as she heard the command and saw the gesture from her brother. _‘I should have known he'd have sensed them before I did,’_ she thought, looking at the _hidden perch_ above from the corner of her eyes and grimaced inwardly at having to limit her abilities, again.

A bit peeved but still game, Karin flickered towards the very edge of the training ground in less than a second, displaying her exceptional skill with the infamous _Flash-Step_ and the ease with which she could control the technique.

Her _sealed_ Zanpakutō – a sheathed two-and-a-half-foot _Katana_ with a black _Tsuka(hilt)_ having an interwoven blue diamond pattern in the middle and a rectangular _tsuba(guard)_ that peeked out from within the confines of a plain black _Saya(scabbard)_ – levitated in front of her, clearly showing the level of control she had over her reiatsu, as she intoned a sharp, “Hadō #58. _Tenran_!”

Just as her index finger touched the edge of the hilt, her Zanpakutō spun like a windmill with the force of hundred gale winds pushing everything back with its magnificent strength.

A widened tornado-like blast shot out from the spinning Zanpakutō and met with the red flames that her brother had conjured with his Kidō mid cast.

The two spells collided together and the flames increased tenfold in their intensity and reach, creating a funnel of a fiery tornado that paved the path _through_ every single attacker on the eastern edge of the barren land in a single sweep.

A staggering silence greeted the duo as they ended their respective techniques, looking just as calm and composed as they had before the trial had begun.

The leftover twenty or so attackers on the western edge looked on at the scene, stupefied at the sheer control of the technique displayed by the two second-year aspiring graduates.

The combination of two incantations-less, mid-level Kidō spells had created a long and wide trench on the left side of the charred ground where the smoking, but still alive, bodies of their fellows littered on the ground, moaning in obvious pain.

The air that had been moist with the morning due until now, was now dry and parched as a few souls near enough to feel the burn gulped nervously.

It was something none of them had expected when they had been asked to help in the evaluation of a few early graduating students.

A sharp whistle from the orange-haired brat brought all of them out of their reverie, however.

Shame and anger lit within every Shinigami still on their feet as they gazed at their fellow unseated officers on the ground.

They had tested and evaluated the skills of every aspiring graduate for many a year now. And with the exceptions of the few noble aspirants who had attempted an early graduation or those who hailed from a lineage of families who had served in the thirteen court guard squads as Shinigami proudly for countless years, none had ever humiliated them as the two commoners had done just now.

With fire in their eyes, every single Shinigami who had answered the call to test the two disrespectful early graduates, unsheathed their Zanpakutō as one, signalling to all who were watching, that the trials, which had started as a way to judge the capabilities of the two had now turned into something very, very different.

-x-x-x-x-x-

“A…Aren't they getting a bit carried away, Taichou?” a voice broke the silence amidst the small gathering of the few members of Gotei-13 who had come to watch the graduation trials as they did every year.

That there were only two students, two _second-years_ in fact, who had qualified…well, that had only made the matter a bit more _exciting._

Isane Kotetsu, Third-seat, Fourth Division, one of the very few seated officers amidst the various scouts from various divisions, observed the scene below as she voiced her worries to her captain.

What had started as a usual demonstration of skills from the graduating candidates, had turned into an all-out battle of two versus every single evaluating Shinigami on the ground in a matter of minutes after the two siblings had performed every single task the testers had asked them to do with an ease that she hadn’t seen from any student of Shinō academy in years.

Hell, she couldn’t even remember anyone apart from herself and a couple of others from her year in the academy who could even come close to the performance the two Kurosaki had displayed this morning.

There was no doubting the fact that the abilities and skills shown by the two Kurosaki had been a sight to see, especially considering their roots. But to have them continue when she could clearly feel the raging reiatsu of the _slighted_ Shinigami down below? … Isane shook her head nervously, looking at her captain and the recently promoted Fourth-seat. 

“Calm yourself, Isane,” chided a beatifically smiling Retsu Unohana as her soft hand on her shoulder coaxed her agitated reiatsu to settle down. She felt a sensation of cool river water washing over her as her worries subsided instantly. “I’m sure things will turn out just fine. Besides,” she added, gesturing towards her right where the newest addition to their squad sat grinning widely at everything down below. “haven’t you noticed it yet?” she asked.

Isane frowned as her eyes caught sight of their new Fourth-seat and her _almost_ giddy expression. It wasn't right. She should have been more worried. Especially considering that it was her _elder_ _brother_ and _twin sister_ who were about to be at the mercy of belittled Shinigami.

“Yuzu-chan?” she asked, drawing the attention of the soft blonde-haired woman, “Aren’t you worried?”

For the first time since the trials had begun, Yuzu's eyes turned away from her family as she answered her senior officer with a gentle smile that was eerily similar to her captain's. “Not really, Kotetsu senpai,” she replied shaking her head and promptly resumed watching her siblings without another word.

Isane's frown increased as she heard her junior. It was an _odd_ thing really. To see her Kohai, who made no efforts to hide how much she loved her siblings, looking at what was essentially about to become a _brawl_ between a dozen or so experienced Shinigami and two academy students, it made less and less sense to her the longer she thought about it.

She knew that the three Kurosaki had proven themselves to be quite capable from what Ōnabara sensei had said about them before the trials had begun, but surely as _only_ Yuzu-chan had been able to gain a position in a division – Captain Unohana having heard of her prodigious skill with Kaidō in the middle of the year – that meant that the other two could not have been more skilled than her.

Isane knew that Captains from division 3, 7 and 11 were always on the look-out for anyone strong enough to join their ranks. And if the two Kurosaki had the same amount of talent as her Kohai, either of those divisions would have snatched them as her own Captain had. She was sure that at the very least, Captain Zaraki had known of Yuzu-chan's early graduation and subsequent promotion as fourth division's fourth-seat what with Yachiru-chan and Yuzu-chan being such good friends.

And for Ikkaku and Yumichika to not grab the two early on like their division was known to do? … Isane shook her head. To her, it could only mean that the two Kurosaki had been unsuccessful in impressing them.

Which was why the confrontation down below and the expression on the faces of her captain and Kohai were especially confusing.

_'But if Yuzu-chan seems to believe that they both will be fine then I suppose I should at least give them the benefit of the doubt,'_ she thought to herself as she remembered her captain's words.

_‘…besides, haven’t you noticed it yet?’_

Perhaps, there _was_ something she had missed…

A glint from something down below snatched her attention and her eyes grew wide as the realisation dawned on her in that very instant.

_‘Their Zanpakutō…’_ her breath hitched.

The duo had defeated more than two dozen Shinigami and they had yet to unsheath their blades!

-x-x-x-x-x-

Ichigo looked at his right just as Karin appeared with a flicker and a gust of wind, not even the slightest bit winded.

She didn’t have to see his twitching brows to know that she had messed up with the amount of power in her previous Kidō attack. “Hehe…sorry, Ichigo,” she smiled sheepishly at him, fidgeting with the blue _kashira(fittings)_ that cascaded down the hilt of her Zanpakutō.

Grumbling under his breath, Ichigo sighed deeply and took in the angered faces of growling Shinigami surrounding the two of them. “Alright. Let’s finish this,” he said palming the hilt of his Zanpakutō for the first time since the trails had begun.

In one fluid motion, he unsheathed his still _sealed_ partner from the confines of a red and black _Saya(scabbard)_ that hung below his waist _._

A grey bladed, three-foot Nodachi stood proudly in Ichigo’s hands as he gripped its black _Tsuka(hilt)_ , tightening his fingers over the interwoven blood-red diamond pattern in the middle. A crisp ray of sunlight fell upon the sealed blade and glinted off of the shiny surface of its rectangular black _tsuba(guard)._

It was the result of the countless hours of training and the measurement of his immense control that he had finally succeeded in containing the reiatsu within his blade.

A glance to his side and he saw that a grim-faced Karin had followed his lead, as she stood beside him with her own Zanpakutō gripped in her strong hands.

Standing still, rigid, even at the sight of twenty or so growling opponents, the two Kurosaki stayed their ground, breathing, staring as they challenged them with their hard, unblinking eyes.

And with a roar, it began…

**“Protect Zangetsu!”**

**“Protect Mangetsu!”**

-x-x-x-x-x-

**~ Review please ~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – 1. The search for a cheap-ass domain is now over. I was finally able to get my hands on one. What does this mean for us, you ask?  
> Well... The website for all my stories and other writing pieces is now up and running.  
> Please visit “www (dot) neatStuff (dot) in” for all the latest chapters that are posted there a day before. I have put a lot of effort into it. Hope you like it.   
> And a reminder, the twitter feed is now Live, again. Follow the news at neatstuff5 on twitter. Read the latest updates on the edits, excerpts from the released and unreleased chapters and other tidbits that I will be posting.


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